


Pros & Cons

by afteriwake



Category: Elementary (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-10
Updated: 2014-04-10
Packaged: 2018-01-18 20:04:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1441105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a cold winter day and it's snowing outside, causing Sherlock to stay indoors and develop a touch of cabin fever. He allows his mind to wander and he wonders what might happen if he and Joan were to engage in a purely physical relationship, and he decides to voice his musings out loud.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pros & Cons

**Author's Note:**

> Answering two prompts for this. The first is **forensiphile** 's prompt at Tumblr ("Sherlock and Joan discuss the practicality of engaging in a physical relationship. Pros and cons. Probably Sherlock driven, but it'd be interesting to see Joan consider it. Risk/benefit analysis, all that. Without compromising their bond."), and the second is my my **land_deduction** Bingo prompt "Winter." I don't know if this was exactly what she hoped for but this is what came out of it.

There was something about winter that put him on edge. Winter meant snow and snow meant more time spent indoors. More time spent indoors meant that he would go stir-crazy. The brief sojourn out with Pam had been a respite from the snow-induced tedium, but now that the case was over he found himself antsy and on edge. He could go out, he supposed. He could brave the weather and find something to do, but he wanted to stimulate his mind, not lose feeling in his extremities. And so he began to think.

Thinking without a clear focus could be problematic, he had found. His mind usually raced at a million miles an hour, with thought after thought with no break. His sleep was usually restless unless he drove himself to the brink of exhaustion, and then he was guaranteed a few hours of deep sleep. There were times he did it by accident, where he got so focused on a case that he lost track of huge swaths of time, but most of the time he did it on purpose as a way to achieve some respite from his mind without going back to drugs. Because while he had been strong-armed into his sobriety this time it had given him something he had never expected: Joan Watson. He was very sure his life would be far less interesting if she was not in it.

And so he let his thoughts turn to her, casting her a glance every once in a while as she sat in the chair, reading a book. He had never felt a physical attraction to her; she wasn't his type, both physically and attitude wise, and he had been rather consumed by distaste for her and what she stood for to give her much thought as anything more than an obstacle to be overcome when they first met. But she had grown on him, wormed her way into the core of his life. He had found her to be vibrant and intelligent and witty and unique. And those were all things that reminded him of Irene, and he had been attracted to her, and yet the same attraction was not present with Joan. He spent some time pondering that. What would it be like if there had been physical attraction? How differently would things have turned out?

He watched her for a moment. “I have a hypothetical question for you,” he said finally.

She didn't look up from her book. “Is it something I really have to think about? Because I'm enjoying this book.”

“I want to play a game of what if,” he said, standing up and looking out the window to the snow covered street. “About us.”

There was a long pause on her end, and then he could hear her close the book. “All right. What is this what if game you want to play about us?”

“What if we were to engage in a purely physical relationship?” he asked quietly.

“Are you serious?” she asked. He didn't need to turn around from the winter wonderland outside to know how she looked: wide eyes, jaw hanging slightly, posture rigid. “It's not going to happen, Sherlock. Ever.”

“Hypothetically, though. What if we were to do that? To have that type of relationship?” He turned away and looked at her, seeing that his initial thoughts were correct. She looked shocked at his suggestion, and also quite defensive. “What are the pros and cons? What would change between us and what would stay the same? How would our friendship be changed, and would it be an irrevocable change? I'm genuinely curious.”

She closed her mouth slightly. It was still a bit more open than normal, but not quite as wide. “This is entirely hypothetical, right?”

“Absolutely,” he said with a nod. “This is not me getting ideas of changing our partnership in any way.”

She was quiet for a moment and looked to be deep in thought. “I suppose I can start with the biggest con of all: when one of us tires of the arrangement, our friendship would be over. Because a 'friends with benefits' arrangement usually kills the friendship because things change for one or both of the parties involved.”

“A pro would be that we understand each other better than most lovers would,” he pointed out. “We already live together so we handle each other’s quirks fairly well. I know what to expect from you and you know what to expect from me.”

“But would you be willing to learn what I enjoy when it comes to sex?” she asked, tilting her head. “I mean, you have definite tastes. Remember the first time I met you a woman had just left who handcuffed you. What if I'm not into that but I'm into something else? Would you want to even know?”

“What are you into when it comes to sexual relations?” he asked curiously.

“I'm not going to tell you what my kinks are.”

“So you admit you have some,” he said with a grin.

“Do you want to keep playing this what if game?” she asked pointedly.

The smile dimmed a bit. “Very well. I suppose another con would be that I think you would want an actual commitment.”

“What about you? Do you think you could keep it just sex without getting attached?” she asked, setting her book down and standing up.

“I'm absolutely sure I could,” he said with a nod. “I've done it in other circumstances. Multiple times.”

“And that's another thing. If you decide you want to have this arrangement with women other than me and I decide I want to have this arrangement with other men I think you would get jealous.”

He scoffed. “I would not get jealous.”

“You already text me all the time when I'm out with my friends, and those are just my friends,” she said, crossing her arms and giving him a knowing look. “I can just imagine if I was with another guy having sex. You'd probably track me down and barge in in the middle of it and think nothing of it. But if _I_ did it to _you_ you'd be all affronted.”

He looked at her for a moment, and then sighed. “All right. I'll concede that point.” He looked over at her intently as she joined her at the window. “Can you think of any positive results if we did engage in that type of a relationship?”

She turned away from him, looking out at the window. She was quiet for a few minutes, and he let her think because he honestly wanted to know if she herself could find any benefits for either of them in the arrangement. Finally she spoke. “I think if we did have that type of relationship I might have sex more frequently than I do.”

“You do rather lead the life of a nun,” he mused.

She turned to him and swatted at his shoulder. “And a lot of that is your fault, too.”

He gave her a grin. “So I take it that you would find no benefit in starting that type of relationship with me?” he asked.

“None that I can think of. There's a lot more I could lose than I could gain. It might not be the same for you, but for me it wouldn't be worth it.”

“Do you think we could remain friends if we did?”

“No,” she said. “Even if the unexpected happened and we developed romantic feelings for each other, I don't think we'd be a good fit. We work very well as friends. We wouldn't have that if sex entered into the equation. It would throw everything off and nothing would be the same.”

He nodded slowly, turning back to the window, watching the snow fall. “Then I believe it would be best if we simply remained friends.”

“Yeah, I think the same thing,” she said, looking out at the window again. They were quiet for a long time before she spoke again. “I think we need to go brave the cold and snow and get you out of the house for a bit. You think weird thoughts when you're cooped up too long.”

“And what would you recommend us doing?” he asked, turning to face her again.

“Let's just take a walk and get something to eat instead of having food delivered. Anything to get you out for a while.”

He nodded. 'And after that do you think we could call Gregson and see if there are any cases we could look over?”

Joan gave him a fond smile. “Yeah, I think we can do that.” She moved towards their coats. “Come on. Let's get some food. I'm starved.”

He nodded and moved over to her. At least he knew now what she thought of the situation. He had to admit, she had noted all the valid points in why it would be a bad idea for them to enter into a relationship of that type, and truthfully he couldn't think of many benefits to the arrangement. As he put on his coat and watched her bundle up as well he was glad that the thought was out of his system. He didn't want to jeopardize his friendship with Joan, not in a million years. She was far too important to him for that, and that was the honest truth. He was glad they both realized that. It just showed that they were more of the same mind these days, and that was a good thing, he thought to himself. That was the way it should be.


End file.
